Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Her Favorite Son

My mother-in-law and I were
bonding. This was a good thing, a happy thing, something to cherish and savor.
Suffice it to say I had not been her ideal daughter-in-law, was not the one she
would have chosen for her favorite son, her baby, yet she was gracious and
temperate and kind. She understood that he was happy, so she came along to have
a second look at the apartment with me.

The apartment was a good
thing. It meant that her favorite son, her baby, would not be leaving the country
with his foreign wife. It also meant that her favorite son, her baby, would
walk right past her apartment on his way to and from work every day.

We got lost. We took a back
street I had discovered on a map. I freely admit I have no sense of direction.
My mother-in-law will tell you she’s not from here. She lived only two metro
stops away. But she wasn’t born here. So she could never find her way around.

Pot calling the kettle black.
Sorry.

There were two real-estate agents
waiting in front of the building, clipboard in hand. They let us in, then stood
aside while I gave my mother-in-law the tour. The apartment was nothing to
speak of, standard, old, needing work. The terrace was its crowning glory, even
in its stained, chipped, peeling state. It was glorious.

The lady agent said that other
people were interested. The man agent said we should not let this opportunity
escape. So we called her favorite son, her baby, to let him know how urgent it
was to put some money down for the right to purchase this small, dirty unremodelled
piece of property.

“We are in no hurry,” he said
to me in his stern, deliberate tone of voice. “If the apartment is not there
tomorrow, we will find another one.”

My mother-in-law and I looked
at each other in desperation. We raised our eyebrows. We shrugged shoulders. We
bonded.

Well done. I like the repetition of 'her baby' to give us that clear insight into how her son is at the center of her world. I can surely relate to this scene. Nice writing. And congrats on 2nd place last week - well-deserved - I enjoyed it immensely.

Fabulous, as per usual! Love the repetition of "her favorite son, her baby" throughout the piece. I can totally picture that mother-in-law! It's funny the strange moments that allow mismatched people to bond.